Noah Bliss 'a typical 10-year-old' - except for his world record half marathon

May 14, 2014

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Press-Gazette Media

At a glance

• Thousands of runners will take to the streets around Lambeau Field Sunday for the 15th annual Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. The marathon will begin at 7 a.m. and the half marathon begins at 8 a.m.— different than in previous years, when they began at the same time. • On Saturday, the event will host a 5K run and walk at 9 a.m. and a staggered 0.75-mile kids run for children of different ages. • The annual Prevea Health & Fitness Expo will be open 3-7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. , at which more than 50 exhibitors will offer nutrition and health products, demonstrations, shoes and apparel.

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He’ll enter Sunday’s Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon with a chance to defend his age-group world record, but young Noah Bliss is more excited about running through Lambeau Field.

At 10˝ years old and a distance runner for barely two years, the fourth-grader from Kenosha loves to run. But he’s just as interested in playing Xbox, having sleepovers with friends and following the exploits of his favorite Packers player, wide receiver Jordy Nelson.

“He’s a happy, healthy 10-year-old,” said his mother, Monica Bliss, who began running when Noah took up the sport. “He has close friends, he loves animals, he does really well in school. He just happens to love to run, and he happens to be good at it.”

Noah ran the 13.1 miles of the Wisconsin Half Marathon in Kenosha May 3 in a scorching 1 hour, 37 minutes and 15 seconds. The time bettered the Association of Road Racing Statisticians’ previous world record for a 10-year-old of 1:38:54, set in 2012 by Drew Dahlen of Green Bay, according to the group’s records..

“When I was 7, I just decided I really wanted to run,” said Noah, who would one day like to work in a field that deals with sports and statistics, or be a football scout. He also said he likes to set a goal “and work hard to reach it.”

About 6,000 runners will run Sunday’s half marathon, which starts on Lombardi Avenue and winds through Green Bay and Ashwaubenon before finishing at Lambeau Field. Almost 1,900 more have registered for the 26.2-mile marathon. The 15-year-old Cellcom event is Wisconsin’s second-largest marathon, trailing only the Milwaukee Lakefront event.

Noah almost didn’t enter this year’s Wisconsin Half Marathon, which normally requires that participants be at least 14. Officials allowed him in after his father explained Noah’s training regimen, and organizers consulted the event’s physician.

Jeff Bliss, an accomplished half marathoner who began running in 2008, kept pace with his 4-foot, 7-inch son until they reached a water station at nearly the 10-mile marker. Then Noah left dad in the dust.

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That’s been a theme since Noah decided three years ago that he didn’t want his father to be the family’s only runner. After persuading his mom to join him on his early treks around their subdivision, Noah’s runs kept getting longer and faster.

Now, he trains by running 15 to 20 miles per week, in segments as long as six miles. He’ll sometimes ask to run before school.

He knows he has posted some good times since entering his first half marathon at age 8, but he is most proud of raising about $1,250 in a Racers Against Childhood Cancer event.

Sean Ryan, Cellcom’s race director since 2004, said the event has regularly attracted elite-level runners. But other than Dahlen — who in 2010 set the world record for a half marathon run by an 8-year-old — and Noah, rarely has a Cellcom competitor been both so good and so young.

“We may have a future Olympian in our midst,” Ryan said. “We attract some quality competitors, and that’s exciting.”

They might also have a future marathoner. Monica Bliss said her son has asked to run a 26.2-mile race, but his parents have said no for now.

“He’s got lots of time” to determine if he’ll run longer races — or any at all — his mother said. For now, she added, “it’s just important that it be fun for him. His future can be anything he wants it to be.”